The Berkeley Anarchist Study Group is one of the longest running (if not the longest running) anarchist study groups in North America. We meet every Tuesday night from 7:30-9:30pm at The Long Haul (3124 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley, CA.

Newcomers are always encouraged to stop by regardless of your familiarity with anarchist ideas or activity. We warmly welcome new participants and encourage them to make the group their own in the same manner we all do. To this effect, we try to cultivate a convivial and approachable atmosphere where everybody can contribute in whatever ways and to whatever degree they each feel comfortable. We do not, however, incorporate fixed practices aimed at creating an artificial “safe space” or prioritize the voices of certain participants as a way of bringing about contrived parity. We have no membership, no criteria for participating, and no fixed codes of behavior. In lieu of prearranged standards for relating to each other, we leave it to each individual to find a balance between making their voice heard and hearing those of the rest of the group, between disagreeing passionately with each other and accepting our divergences without necessarily needing to resolve them. We eschew inflexible rules for interacting, preferring to ground our mutuality in our shared affinity for anarchy and for each other.

The study group organizes an annual gathering called the BASTARD Conference (Berkeley Anarchist Students of Theory, Anti-politics, and Riotous Discourse). This DIY event consists of informal, autodidactic presentations on anarchy and the poetry of lived revolt given by participants in the study group along with friends, guests, and accomplices from around the world.

In addition, the group has acted as an incubator for many texts, projects, and actions in its over 20 years of existence. Many attendees have and continue to be integrally involved in projects that have left lasting impacts on the North American anarchist milieu over the years.

We pick readings for the coming week at the end of each session, after which it will be posted here. If you have a text you’d like us to read, come make a case for it, but please be ready at the next meeting to briefly introduce it for the group and kick the discussion off by sharing your reasons for selecting it.

If any of this sparks your interest or curiosity, then join us every Tuesday evening at the Long Haul Infoshop. Email birdsoffire@riseup.net with any questions. We hope to see you soon!